French Unemployment Surges To Two-Year High Of 9.0% In Third Quarter

• France’s unemployment rate rose to its highest level in two years in the third quarter, the INSEE (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies) statistics office said on Tuesday, as the euro zone’s second-biggest economy grapples with the fallout from the COVID-19 crisis.
• INSEE said the jobless rate jumped to 9.0% from 7.1% in the second quarter, its highest level since the third quarter of 2018.
• INSEE said that marked the single biggest quarterly increase on record going back to 1975, but it was largely because the rate had been skewed in the previous two quarters because people were not able to look for work due to a mid-March to mid-May coronavirus lockdown.

(Source: Reuters)